Are we there yet? A systematic literature review of Open Educational Resources in Africa: A combined content and bibliometric analysis.

Although several studies have been conducted to summarize the progress of open educational resources (OER) in specific regions, only a limited number of studies summarize OER in Africa. Therefore, this paper presents a systematic literature review to explore trends, themes, and patterns in this emerging area of study, using content and bibliometric analysis. Findings indicated three major strands of OER research in Africa: (1) OER adoption is only limited to specific African countries, calling for more research and collaboration between African countries in this field to ensure educational equity; (2) most of the OER initiatives in Africa have focused on the creation process and neglected other important perspectives, such as dissemination and open educational practices (OEP) using OER; and (3) on top of the typical challenges for OER adoption (e.g., infrastructure), other personal challenges were identified within the African context, including culture, language, and personality. The findings of this study suggest that more initiatives and cross-collaborations with African and non-African countries in the field of OER are needed to facilitate OER adoption in the region. Additionally, it is suggested that researchers and practitioners should consider individual differences, such as language, personality and culture, when promoting and designing OER for different African countries. Finally, the findings can promote social justice by providing insights and future research paths that different stakeholders (e.g., policy makers, educators, practitioners, etc.) should focus on to promote OER in Africa.

The enduring pursuit of public science at U.S. land-grant universities.

Since the 1990s, universities have faced a push toward output commercialization that has been seen as a potential threat to the public science model. Much less attention has been given to the enduring nature of internal organizational features in academia and how they shape the pursuit of traditional scholarly activities. This article exploits four waves of representative, random-sample survey evidence from agricultural and life science faculty at the 52 major U.S. land-grant universities, spanning 1989-2015, to examine faculty attitudes/preferences, tenure and promotion criteria, output, and funding sources. Our findings demonstrate that faculty attitudes toward scientific research have remained remarkably stable over twenty-five years in strongly favoring intrinsic and public science goals over commercial or extrinsic goals. We also demonstrate the faculty's positive attitudes toward science, an increased pressure to publish in top journals and secure increasingly competitive grants, as well as declining time for science. These trends suggest a reconsideration of university commercialization strategies and a recommitment of universities and their state and federal funders toward fostering public agricultural and life science research.

Community development, implementation, and assessment of a NIBLSE bioinformatics sequence similarity learning resource.

As powerful computational tools and 'big data' transform the biological sciences, bioinformatics training is becoming necessary to prepare the next generation of life scientists. Furthermore, because the tools and resources employed in bioinformatics are constantly evolving, bioinformatics learning materials must be continuously improved. In addition, these learning materials need to move beyond today's typical step-by-step guides to promote deeper conceptual understanding by students. One of the goals of the Network for Integrating Bioinformatics into Life Sciences Education (NIBSLE) is to create, curate, disseminate, and assess appropriate open-access bioinformatics learning resources. Here we describe the evolution, integration, and assessment of a learning resource that explores essential concepts of biological sequence similarity. Pre/post student assessment data from diverse life science courses show significant learning gains. These results indicate that the learning resource is a beneficial educational product for the integration of bioinformatics across curricula.

How efficient are German life sciences? Econometric evidence from a latent class stochastic output distance model.

This article investigates the technical efficiency in German higher education while accounting for possible heterogeneity in the production technology. We investigate whether a latent class model would identify the different sub-disciplines of life sciences in a sample of biology and agricultural units based on technological differences. We fit a latent class stochastic frontier model to estimate the parameters of an output distance function formulation of the production technology to investigate if a technological separation is meaningful along sub-disciplinary lines. We apply bootstrapping techniques for model validation. Our analysis relies on evaluating a unique dataset that matches information on higher educational institutions provided by the Federal Statistical Office of Germany with the bibliometric information extracted from the ISI Web of Science Database. The estimates indicate that neglecting to account for the possible existence of latent classes leads to a biased perception of efficiency. A classification into a research-focused and teaching-focused decision-making unit improves model fit compared to the pooled stochastic frontier model. Additionally, research-focused units have a higher median technical efficiency than teaching-focused units. As the research focus is more prevalent in the biology subsample an analysis not considering the potential existence of latent classes might misleadingly give the appearance of a higher mean efficiency of biology. In fact, we find no evidence of a difference in the mean technical efficiencies for German agricultural sciences and biology using the latent class model.

An instructional definition and assessment rubric for bioinformatics instruction.

The lack of an instructional definition of bioinformatics delays its effective integration into biology coursework. Using an iterative process, our team of biologists, a mathematician/computer scientist, and a bioinformatician together with an educational evaluation and assessment specialist, developed an instructional definition of the discipline: Bioinformatics is "an interdisciplinary field that is concerned with the development and application of algorithms that analyze biological data to investigate the structure and function of biological polymers and their relationships to living systems." The field is defined in terms of its two primary foundational disciplines, biology and computer science, and its interdisciplinary nature. At the same time, we also created a rubric for assessing open-ended responses to a prompt about what bioinformatics is and how it is used. The rubric has been shown to be reliable in successive rounds of testing using both common percent agreement (89.7%) and intraclass correlation coefficient (0.620) calculations. We offer the definition and rubric to life sciences instructors to help further integrate bioinformatics into biology instruction, as well as for fostering further educational research projects.

Regulations and practices of structured doctoral education in the life sciences in Germany.

Structured doctoral education is increasingly preferred compared to the individual model. Several science policy organisations give recommendations on how to structure doctoral education. However, there is little research on to what extent these recommendations find their way into practice. In our study, we first compared European and German recommendations on doctoral education with, second, the institutional regulations of structured doctoral programmes (N = 98) in the life sciences at twelve different German universities. Additionally, we third asked doctoral graduates (N = 1796) of these structured doctoral programmes and graduates of individual doctoral studies about their experience in doctoral education. Fourth, we contrasted the regulations of structured doctoral programmes with the reported experiences of their graduates. We found significant deviations of the reported practices of graduates from the regulations of their organisations, regarding the student admission, supervision and curricular activities of doctoral candidates. The efficacy of structured versus traditional doctoral education should be examined based on reported practice rather than on the respective written regulations.

Lower scores in pharmacokinetics than in pharmacodynamics assessment among students in a health and life sciences curriculum.

In pharmacology teaching, pharmacokinetics (PK) and pharmacodynamics (PD) may be defined as part of the 'general pharmacology' domain, whereas effects of drugs on the autonomic nervous system and clinical trial design might be defined as part of the 'medical' and 'clinical' pharmacology domain, respectively. We recently designed a pharmacology course covering these domains for second year Health and Life Sciences students at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU). We used a combination of lectures, problem-based learning and practicals to transfer knowledge to students in order for them to acquire sufficient knowledge and insight to solve real-world pharmacological problems. To evaluate whether we 1) successfully aligned our course objectives with both our teaching strategy and assessment, and 2) to identify topics in our course that would benefit from improvement in teaching strategy and/or effort, we determined success rate of the exam questions in above-defined pharmacology domains. We analyzed 3 consecutive second year cohorts (n = 377) of students enrolled in our course, and found a statistically significant reduction in success rate in exam questions of the general pharmacology domain (especially in PK), compared to domains covering 'medical' and 'clinical' pharmacology. In addition, we found lower success rates for 'knows how' questions compared to 'knows' questions in the combined PK/PD domain. Our data show that we overall succeeded in aligning our course objectives with both our teaching strategy and assessment, but that outcomes on the PK domain might benefit from additional attention.

Citizen science frontiers: Efficiency, engagement, and serendipitous discovery with human-machine systems.

Citizen science has proved to be a unique and effective tool in helping science and society cope with the ever-growing data rates and volumes that characterize the modern research landscape. It also serves a critical role in engaging the public with research in a direct, authentic fashion and by doing so promotes a better understanding of the processes of science. To take full advantage of the onslaught of data being experienced across the disciplines, it is essential that citizen science platforms leverage the complementary strengths of humans and machines. This Perspectives piece explores the issues encountered in designing human-machine systems optimized for both efficiency and volunteer engagement, while striving to safeguard and encourage opportunities for serendipitous discovery. We discuss case studies from Zooniverse, a large online citizen science platform, and show that combining human and machine classifications can efficiently produce results superior to those of either one alone and how smart task allocation can lead to further efficiencies in the system. While these examples make clear the promise of human-machine integration within an online citizen science system, we then explore in detail how system design choices can inadvertently lower volunteer engagement, create exclusionary practices, and reduce opportunity for serendipitous discovery. Throughout we investigate the tensions that arise when designing a human-machine system serving the dual goals of carrying out research in the most efficient manner possible while empowering a broad community to authentically engage in this research.

Assessment of dietary intake in Spanish university students of health sciences.

INTRODUCTION: Nutritional intake during early ages has been associated to disease onset later in life. This study aimed to assess dietary intake in Spanish university students of health sciences as compared to national recommended dietary intakes (DRIs). METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted including 585 university students of health sciences aged 18-25 years. Dietary intake was assessed using a 72-h diet recall. A control group was selected from Spanish National Dietary Intake Survey (ENIDE) data. RESULTS: Intake of energy, protein, fat, fatty acids, and cholesterol was significantly lower (p<0.001) in university students compared to controls, while fiber intake showed the opposite trend (p<0.001). Total fat and carbohydrate intake was consistent with recommendations, but protein intake was lower than recommended. Intake of saturated fatty acids (SFAs) was markedly higher than nutrition goals, while intake of monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs) was lower. Both students and the reference control group did not reach the optimal dietary intake of iodine and vitamins D and E, while sodium intake was excessive in both groups. CONCLUSIONS: Dietary habits of university students were mainly characterized by low intakes of energy, protein, fats, fatty acids, and cholesterol, and high intake of fiber as compared to the general population. Intake of iodine and vitamins D and E was low, while sodium intake was excessive in both university students and the general population. Dietary interventions should be considered to prevent nutritional deficiencies and to ensure a balanced diet.

Early Preparation and Inspiration for STEM Careers: Preliminary Report of the Epidemiology Challenge Randomized Intervention, 2014-2015.

OBJECTIVES: Early Preparation and Inspiration for Careers in the Biomedical Sciences (EPIC) is a university-high school partnership for increasing high school student interest and persistence in the biomedical sciences. EPIC includes a year-long, project-based learning intervention, the Think Like an Epidemiologist Challenge (Epi Challenge). We describe the main components of the Epi Challenge and report on short-term changes in scientific literacy and science-related motivations and beliefs. METHODS: From June 2014 through June 2015, a randomized sample of students with above-median interest in science from 5 high schools in Pennsylvania completed baseline and midyear assessments of scientific self-efficacy, beliefs regarding acquisition of scientific knowledge (personal scientific epistemology), and personal interest in science using 5-point Likert-type scales (with higher scores indicating stronger or more sophisticated beliefs). RESULTS: Of 984 students completing baseline assessments, 110 enrolled in the Epi Challenge, and 84 remained at midyear. At midyear, mean scores for scientific self-efficacy (change = 0.26, P < .001) and personal scientific epistemology (change = 0.19, P = .004) increased significantly, but personal interest in science (change = -0.17, P = .06) did not. Increases in personal scientific epistemology were greatest for African American (change = 0.47, P = .005), free/reduced-price lunch (change = 0.35, P = .001), underrepresented minorities in science (change = 0.27, P = .002), and female (change = 0.26, P = .01) students. CONCLUSIONS: Epi Challenge participation was associated with improvement in high school students' scientific self-efficacy and sophistication of epistemologic beliefs. Long-term follow-up of this cohort may shed light on whether such changes will be sustained and shape college major and career decisions.

Time-to-Credit Gender Inequities of First-Year PhD Students in the Biological Sciences.

Equitable gender representation is an important aspect of scientific workforce development to secure a sufficient number of individuals and a diversity of perspectives. Biology is the most gender equitable of all scientific fields by the marker of degree attainment, with 52.5% of PhDs awarded to women. However, equitable rates of degree completion do not translate into equitable attainment of faculty or postdoctoral positions, suggesting continued existence of gender inequalities. In a national cohort of 336 first-year PhD students in the biological sciences (i.e., microbiology, cellular biology, molecular biology, developmental biology, and genetics) from 53 research institutions, female participants logged significantly more research hours than males and were significantly more likely than males to attribute their work hours to the demands of their assigned projects over the course of the academic year. Despite this, males were 15% more likely to be listed as authors on published journal articles, indicating inequality in the ratio of time to credit. Given the cumulative advantage that accrues for students who publish early in their graduate careers and the central role that scholarly productivity plays in academic hiring decisions, these findings collectively point to a major potential source of persisting underrepresentation of women on university faculties in these fields.

Un software educativo para la autoevaluación de Morfofisiología I / Educational software for self-assessment for Morphophysiology I

La asignatura de Morfofisiología I constituye un gran desafío para los estudiantes del primer año de Medicina, debido a que el momento en que se imparte coincide con la adaptación a la Educación Superior y porque la atención individualizada al estudiante se ha visto afectada por la elevada relación alumno/profesor, derivada de la masividad estudiantil. El uso adecuado de las Tecnologías de la Información y las Comunicaciones (TIC) pueden constituir una alternativa para contribuir a resolver esta problemática. El objetivo de esta investigación consistió en diseñar un software educativo (SWE) para la autoevaluación de todos los objetivos y contenidos del programa vigente de la asignatura. Se implementó un sitio web, programado por el autor en HTML. Contiene 530 preguntas, distribuidas en 29 entrenadores de 10 o 20 preguntas de test, de verdadero/falso, selección múltiple o mezcla de ambos, que incluyen imágenes cuando se considera necesario. Se incorporan las Guías de las Clases talleres y la de Seminarios y una colección de animados para apoyar aspectos de difícil comprensión de la asignatura. Funciona en las tablets, laptops, teléfonos inteligentes y computadoras de escritorios, que contengan un navegador de Internet como parte de su sistema operativo. Tiene un tamaño de 266 MB. Este SWE responde a las tendencias pedagógicas actuales de la evaluación centrada en el alumno. Constituye una posible solución al problema de la atención al estudiante en condiciones de masividad, aunque por supuesto contribuye al proceso de enseñanza aprendizaje en cualquier caso. En un ensayo piloto se corroboró que el empleo de SWE incrementa el rendimiento académico(AU)

Morphophysiology I is one of the most difficult subject for the first year medical students because this moment means an important change in their student life that needs adaptation to the Higher Education space, which includes a different approach to the teaching-learning process. The students need individual attention to learn adequately this difficult subject, but this is not possible due to the incidence of a high student population, joint to a high level in the students:professor ratio which make very difficult to attend to them effectively. The uses of information and communication technologies (ICT) could be a solution to resolve the problem that affects the university learning contexts. The objective of this study was to design an educational software for self-assessment of Morphophysiology I. It was dessigned a web site as teaching media. It was programmed by the author in HTML language. The software contains 530 questions, distributed in 29 tests for training students in two particular ways: true or false tests and multiple-choice selection with images incorporated when needed. The web site has booklets about seminars and training classes to help students to improve the summative assessment. It also includes animated video about some difficult comprehension aspects of Histology, Biochemistry and Embryology. The software functions perfectly in smartphones, tablets, and laptops or on personal computers. The software only requires an internet browser associated to operative system. Its size is 266 MB. The software introduces students and professors to new trends in pedagogical assessment: self-evaluation, continuous and formative evaluation that improves the learning skills of the students. The software is a possible solution to help student's attention in a virtual environment, without the direct professor's attention. Pilot assay in final exam of Morphophysiology l indicated that the development of self-assessment with the software designed renders considerable improvement in students' academic achievement in comparison to the traditional assessment systems(AU)

Teaching and learning in the Biosciences: the development of an educational programme to assist student nurses in their assessment and management of patients with wounds.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: The aim of this project was to develop an educational package for undergraduate student nurses that would provide them with the theoretical knowledge and clinical judgement skills to care for a patient with a wound. BACKGROUND: Internationally there is concern over the adequacy of preparation of undergraduate nurses for the clinical skill of wound care. Deficits have also been identified in the underpinning biological sciences needed for this skill. Expectations associated with wound management have altered significantly in the last two decades with decision making around wound care coming under the scope of practice of nurses. The treatment and care options for patients with wounds must be based on a sound knowledge of how wounds are formed and healed. If nurses do not have the evidence-based knowledge, it can affect wound healing adversely leading to increased patient suffering, pain and delayed healing. From an organisational perspective, delayed healing will increase the cost of care. DESIGN: This project used constructivism learning theory to provide a framework for the development of a wound care educational package for undergraduate Irish nurses in their penultimate year of training. METHODS: Collaboration was formed with key stake holders. Pertinent curriculum content was mapped. Learning strategies to suit the incoming student learning styles were incorporated into newly developed theoretical content and practical skill sessions. CONCLUSION: The developed educational programme will assist student nurses in their care of patients with wounds. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: This study provides a model that can be followed to develop small units of the study to keep abreast of changes in health care delivery and the changing scope of practice of nurses. It also contributes to the debate on the teaching and learning of biosciences as it highlights the depth of biological knowledge required as a basis for good evidence-based nursing care.

Development and Assessment of a Horizontally Integrated Biological Sciences Course Sequence for Pharmacy Education.

OBJECTIVE: To design and assess a horizontally integrated biological sciences course sequence and to determine its effectiveness in imparting the foundational science knowledge necessary to successfully progress through the pharmacy school curriculum and produce competent pharmacy school graduates. DESIGN: A 2-semester course sequence integrated principles from several basic science disciplines: biochemistry, molecular biology, cellular biology, anatomy, physiology, and pathophysiology. Each is a 5-credit course taught 5 days per week, with 50-minute class periods. ASSESSMENT: Achievement of outcomes was determined with course examinations, student lecture, and an annual skills mastery assessment. The North American Pharmacist Licensure Examination (NAPLEX) results were used as an indicator of competency to practice pharmacy. CONCLUSION: Students achieved course objectives and program level outcomes. The biological sciences integrated course sequence was successful in providing students with foundational basic science knowledge required to progress through the pharmacy program and to pass the NAPLEX. The percentage of the school's students who passed the NAPLEX was not statistically different from the national percentage.

Public attitudes to GM foods. The balancing of risks and gains.

In the paper we study the variables influencing attitudes to the use of two biotechnologies related to gene transfer within apples. Using Eurobarometer 73.1 survey data on biotechnology, science and technology, with 15,650 respondents, we study the extent these attitudes are determined by socio-economic and other variables. We found that attitudes to the risks and gains are determined by socio-economic variables and also by the individual's knowledge, scientific background, their parent's education in science and their religion. Perceptions of naturalness and of environmental impact combined with perceived risks and gains in determining overall approval, proxied by views on whether the technologies should be encouraged, for GMTs. However there are substantial differences in attitudes to transgenesis and cisgenesis.